1850 Delamarche Map of Germany, Prussia and the Germanic Confederation

Description: This is a beautiful example of Alexandre Delamarche's 1850 map of Germany and the Austrian empire. It covers the German states from the border with Holland and Belgium eastward as far as Poland and Russia and from Holstein to the Adriatic. Includes the modern day countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Prussia attained its greatest importance in the 18th and 19th centuries when it dominated northern Germany politically, economically, and in population. The German Confederation, created in 1814, acted as a buffer zone between Austria and Prussia, its two largest and most powerful member states. Nonetheless the rivalry between the two powerful states increased until it finally broke out into the Austro-Prussian War. Prussia won the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 which ultimately led to the collapse of the German Confederation. A few years later, in 1871, most of the former Confederation states were folded into the newly proclaimed German empire.

Throughout, the map identifies various cities, towns, rivers, mountain passes and an assortment of additional topographical details. Political and regional borders are highlighted in outline color. This map was issued by Delamarche as plate no. 25 in his Atlas Delamarche Geographie Modern.

Cartographer:
Charles Francois Delamarche (1740-1817) founded the important and prolific Paris based Maison Delamarche map publishing firm in the late 18th century. A lawyer by trade Delamarche entered the map business with the acquisition from Jean-Baptiste Fortin of Robert de Vaugondy's map plates and copyrights. Delamarche appears to have been of dubious moral character. In 1795 the widow of Didier Robert de Vaugondy Marie Louise Rosalie Dangy, petitioned a public committee for 1500 livres, which should have been awarded to her deceased husband. However, Delamarche, proclaiming himself Vaugondy's heir, filed a simultaneous petition and walked away with the funds most of which he was instructed to distribute to Vaugondy's widow and children. Just a few months later, however, Delamarche proclaimed Marie Dangy deceased and it is highly unlikely that any these funds found their way to Vaugondy's impoverished daughters. Nonetheless, where Vaugondy could not make ends meet as a geographer, Delamarche prospered as a map publisher, acquiring most of the work of earlier generation cartographers Lattre, Bonne, Desnos, and Janvier, thus expanding significantly upon the Vaugondy stock. Charles Delamarche eventually passed control of the firm to his son Felix Delamarche (18th C. - 1st half 19th C.) and geographer Charles Dien (1809-1870). It was later passed on to Alexandre Delamarche, who revised and reissued several Delamarche publications in the mid-19th century. The firm continued to publish maps and globes until the middle part of the 19th century. Click here for a list of rare maps from Maison Delamarche.